William Jiang

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When crafting a follow-up to the highest-grossing R-rated comedy of all time it’s understandable that one might be reticent to mess with a winning formula. But director Todd Phillips and writers Craig Mazin and Scot Armstrong seem to have confused revisiting with recycling: The Hangover Part II so closely mirrors its blockbuster predecessor in every vital aspect that it can scarcely claim the right to call itself a sequel.
The only significant new wrinkle introduced in Part II is its setting: Bangkok Thailand a location that at least theoretically augurs well for a second helping of inspired lunacy. The story structure of the first film has been copied wholesale a game of Mad Libs played with its script. The action is again set around a bachelor party this time in honor of buttoned-down dentist Stu (Ed Helms). Again the boys (Stu Bradley Cooper’s boorish frat boy Phil and Zach Galifianakis’ moronic man-child Alan) awaken the next day in a hideously debauched hotel room with little memory of the previous night’s revelry. And again there is a missing companion: Teddy (Mason Lee son of Ang) the brother-in-law to be. (Poor Justin Bartha is once again relegated to the sidelines popping up now and then to push the plot forward via cell phone.)
The amnesiac/investigative angle of the first Hangover made for a refreshing twist on the contemporary men-behaving-badly comedy. Repeated here its effect is arguably the opposite: Too often the action feels rote and formulaic. Gone is any hint of surprise an aspect so crucial to good comedy and a huge part of the first film’s appeal. Key comic set pieces – a tussle with monks at a Buddhist temple a visit to a transsexual brothel a car chase involving a drug-dealing monkey – reveal themselves to be merely variations of memorable bits from the first film.
Tonally Part II is darker cruder and a bit nastier than its predecessor. Female characters never a priority in the first film are further marginalized in the sequel. (The only woman with significant dialogue a Bangkok prostitute also happens to have a penis. I’ll let you ponder the implications of that one.) The three leads Helms Cooper and Galifianakis still work well together and despite the inferior material enough of their chemistry remains to make the proceedings bearable – and occasionally funny. But their characters feel somehow degraded reduced to coarse caricatures of their former selves. Speaking of caricature Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong) the fey faux-gangsta villain of the first film returns in an expanded capacity in the sequel his garbled hip-hop slang more gratuitous – and more grating – than before.
I can’t help but wonder what might have been if a planned cameo by Mel Gibson playing a tattoo artist hadn’t been scrapped reportedly due to objections by Galifianakis. Liam Neeson Gibson’s replacement apparently proved ineffectual in his first go-round and when he wasn't available for re-shoots his scene was eventually shot with Nick Cassavetes in the role. In its existing incarnation the scene is purely functional a chunk of forgettable exposition. The presence of Gibson an actor of not inconsiderable comic talent would have at least added an air of unpredictability something the scene – and indeed the movie – sorely lacks.

Cannes, after all, is not the Oscars. So it's no surprise when the big winners at the chi-chi film festival assume the largely unknown (to us) names of, uh, Lars von Trier and, er, Wong Kar-wai.
Danish director von Trier's modern-day musical "Dancer in the Dark" nabbed the top prize, the Palm D'Or, for best feature as the 53rd Cannes Film Festival closed out its 12-day run Sunday. The film's first-time actress, Icelandic pop diva Bjork, took home the award for best actress.
"Dancer in the Dark" is about a blind Czech immigrant (played by Bjork) who escapes to an imaginary world of musical fantasies.
Another big winner was Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar-wai, whose "In the Mood for Love" won the best actor award for male lead Tony Leung. The film, set in mid-1960s Hong Kong, follows two neighbors who gradually discover that their spouses are having an affair.
Other winners included a best screenplay nod for Neil Labute's "Nurse Betty," starring Renee Zellweger. "Nurse Betty" was the only U.S. film to be singled out for a main Cannes honor.
Here's the complete list of this year's Cannes winners:
Palm d'Or: "Dancer in the Dark" (Denmark/France/Sweden), directed by Lars von Trier Grand prix: "Devils on the Doorstep" (China), directed by Jiang Wen Best actress: Bjork ("Dancer in the Dark") Best actor: Tony Leung ("In the Mood for Love") Special mention: Ensemble of actors in "The Wedding" Best director: Edward Yang ("A One and a Two ...") Best screenplay: John Richards, James Flamberg ("Nurse Betty") Prix du Jury (shared): "Blackboards" (Iran), directed by Samira Makhmalbaf, and "Songs From the Second Floor" (Sweden), directed by Roy Andersson Palm d'Or for short film: "Anino" (Phillippines), directed by Raymond Red Technical Award: Christopher Doyle, Mark Li Ping-bing, William Chang Suk-ping for "In the Mood for Love" Camera d'Or (best first feature): shared by "Djomeh" (Iran), directed by Hassan Yektapanah, and "A Time for Drunken Horses" (Iran), directed by Bahman Ghobadi International Critics' Association Awards: Best film in an Official Section: "Eureka" (Japan), directed by Shinji Aoyama; Best film in a Parallel Section: "A Time for Drunken Horses" Ecumenical Awards: Best Film: "Eureka"; Special prizes: "Fast Food, Fast Women" (U.S.), directed by Amos Kollek, and "Code Unknown" (France), directed by Michael Haneke Fondation Gan Award: (Best feature in Un Certain Regard): "Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her" (U.S.); Special mention: "Me, You, Them" (Brazil)